Editorial: The Fourth Estate in Arakan State at a Turning of the Tide

By Admin 29 Nov 2023

Myanmar’s military regime is currently facing an expansion of the forces arrayed against it nationwide. On November 13, the Arakan Army opened a western front in armed opposition to the junta’s brutal rule. 

The moment can be described as a coalescence of motives and circumstance as Arakan State, which had remained a relatively peaceful place for much of the post-coup period, has become among the most closely watched battlefronts in the fight for the future of Myanmar.

Launched on October 27, “Operation 1027” was almost certainly always going to spread to Arakan State in some form, some day. In what appears to have been a ham-handed and ineffectual attempt to stymie the flow of information coming out of this western front, the regime on October 29 raided the Sittwe newsroom of DMG, sealing off our offices there and detaining reporter Ko Htet Aung and night watchman Ko Soe Win Aung. DMG continues to operate, publishing more stories than ever about the increasingly ruthless hold that this military junta has on its people. 

And, without a doubt, its people are hurting very much as a result of its misrule. DMG calls on the State Military Council to provide a credible path to civilian governance; to democracy in Myanmar once more. 

The military regime’s public support dwindles, by the day, from a very low baseline. Its brutal treatment of its own people is noted in karmic circles as a tide appears to be turning in this story of far too much woe to date.

A major concern at this point is that an increasingly desperate regime will resort to increasingly desperate measures as its hold on the country looks increasingly tenuous. Just over a month into Operation 1027, we see a spike in regime actions that could credibly be described as war crimes and crimes against humanity, including indiscriminate artillery fire, excessive use of force in the form of unprovoked airstrikes for starters, and denial of humanitarian aid to those in need.
 
Another major concern is that an increasingly desperate regime will increasingly target those who seek to expose injustices and hard truths on the ground. Of the scores of journalists arrested for doing their jobs in the post-coup period, dozens remain behind bars. 

Now more than ever, DMG urges advocates for press freedom around the world to turn their eyes toward Myanmar, and help this country’s beleaguered independent media tell the story of these times.

Under the State Military Council’s rule, Myanmar’s ranking on every major global index assessing human rights and press freedom has plummeted. And Arakan State media have been hard hit by this new, less press-tolerant reality. The junta has prosecuted the chief editors of Arakan State-based media outlets such as Development Media Group (DMG), Narinjara and Western News. Seven DMG reporters have been charged and two remain in custody. 
 
A country’s news media are the eyes and ears of the public. In its efforts to suppress the press, this junta betrays its intent to forcibly close the eyes and ears of the public.

Long live a free and vibrant press in Myanmar. These are historic times, and the news media remain a crucial arbiter of fact versus fiction amid the fog of war and, increasingly, the haze of social media (to say nothing of the state of state media in Myanmar).

Myanmar’s penultimate monarch, King Mindon, in the late 1800s laid out a vision for the role of the press in society that our nation’s current rulers would do well to heed.

“If I do wrong, write about me,” is the philosophy King Mindon is said to have espoused. “If the queens do wrong, write about them. If my sons and my daughters do wrong, write about them. If the judges and mayors do wrong, write about them. No one shall take action against the journals for writing the truth. They shall go in and out of the palace freely.”

Are these 19th century notions too radical for this 21st century junta?